Splice foe



M. FISHER.

RAIL SPLICE.

No. 19,555. Patentad Mar. 9, 1858.

UITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

M. FISHER, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY.

SPLICE FOR JOINTS OF RAILROAD-RAILS.

Specification of Letters Patent No.19,5-55 dated March 9, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, M. FISHER, of Trenton, in the county of Mercer and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Splice for the Joints of Rails on Railroads, connecting the ends of the rails more perfectly than heretofore; and I do hereby declare and ascertain said invention, referring rails in line, and not materially increase.

their rigidity at the joint, by which a uniformity of wear may be established, and the consequent shocks, so apparent on most roads, be thereby avoided, by which also a great saving would be made in the rolling stock of a road, as well as in the rails and cross ties. Great numbers of devices have been resorted to by the practical constructors of roads, and by others, but they have all, so far as I am acquainted had some defect which has prevented their general introduction and it is a well known fact that very few roads now employ the same means of making the splice of the rails. Among these devices may be noticed the various modes of fishing, all of them complete and requiring to be bolted with many bolts, so often undersplice, elastic splices, &c. The ring joint, used between ties, has been found very eflicacious, but this requires the rails to be slotted in the mill at their ends rendering its use difficult especially on old roads and inconvenient in field work, besides weakening the ends, of the rails by cutting away the web, it is diflicult to remove a single rail for repair &c.

My present device is made to obviate known objections, which have heretofore been used against all previous splices employed; it is intended to be used between ties, but may be put upon them with facility. Its construction is as follows: A sole piece a is formed of wrought iron, wider than the base of the rail 7', (or this piece, as well as the others may be made of other metal suitable for the purpose) the edges of the solepiece a; on the two sides parallel with the rail are turned up forming a lip e e as seen in the cross section Fig. 2.. This sole piece is placed under the endsof two contiguous rails 9" two holes are made through this sole piece a equidistant from the longitudinal center'line, one on each side on a line with its transverse center as represented in Fig. 2. These holes are distant from each other about the width of the tread of the rail, a small portion of the corners of the base of the rail at the end is removed, which would otherwise cover the holes in the sole, as shown at s s Fig. 4. The rails are placed with their ends on the sole piece so as to bring their junction over the center there of. A bolt 12 is made with its end turned up into a V form as seen in the cross section Fig. 2, and these ends are passed up through the holes in the sole piece, the loop extending from one hole to the other under the center of the sole-piece and the ends project up, one on each side ofthe web of the rail as high, as the flanges of the wheels that travel over it will admit; a forelock f is fitted over the base of the rail on each side, through a hole in the center'of which the ends of the bolt 6 pass, the form of the under side ofthese forelocks conform to the figure of the upper surface of the base of the rail, and fill the space on each side between said base and the lip e of the sole-piece and up the side of the web as high as the forelock is thick; the upper surface of the forelocks is made level and parallel with the under surface of the sole piece; the ends of the bolt which project up through the forelocks are threaded to receive a nut on each which is screwed down onto the fore lock tightly and then clamps the rail as in a vise on both sides, in the direction of the strain, and thus firmly uniting the parts on their under surfaces to fit the rail and with their upper surfaces parallel with the sole plate with which they are combined and at right angles to the line of strain upon the bolts, is highly important to obtain the greatest durability and strength; the parts being all constructed combined and adapted to each other so as to produce the maximum result, form a joint which practically meets the varied wants of engineers and furnish a cheap and efiicient splice for rails that can be used equally well between the cross ties or upon them. Parts of my combination to form a perfect splice are not new, the sole plate with the side lips has been repeatedly used, overlooks have also been used with chairs cast with one permanent side lip and otherwise and fastened in various ways with keys, screws, &c. But I wish it to be under- M. FISHER.

In presence of- I. W. DYER, WM. C. HOWELL. 

